(The following story by Rick Rousos appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on June 29, 2009.)
LAKELAND, Fla. — To anybody who thought the deal for Orlando-area commuter rail had been permanently derailed: Think again.
The proposed agreement for the state to buy 61 miles of CSX rail track between and DeLand and Poinciana refuses to die.
CSX had set a deadline for today to finalize the deal. But Monday the company said it has agreed to extend the negotiating period another six months.
“SunRail Lives on!” U.S. Rep. John Mica, a Winter Park Republican, said Monday at an Orlando press conference.
Backers of the $1.2 billion plan hope to have an agreement and a special session of the Florida Legislature sometime this fall to cement it.
The SunRail deal concerns Lakeland because commuter rail in the Orlando area will cause a shift through Lakeland of some freight trains that now avoid the city.
Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman, said Monday night the company has agreed only to negotiate.
“We were asked to do it,” Sease said.
Last month, the state Senate led by Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, stopped the proposal for the state to buy 61 miles of Orlando-area railroad tracks from CSX.
That was largely because of a provision that would have left state taxpayers shouldering the liability for accidents involving CSX trains on the state’s commuter tracks. The commuter rail deal would see both commuter trains and CSX freight trains sharing the same tracks.
The defeat of the deal marked the second consecutive year Dockery successfully led her colleagues to defeat it.
But CSX is now willing to renegotiate the indemnity provision in the deal with the state. Whether that means a small percentage of the lawsuit load, half of it or more, CSX isn’t saying.
“We do have a firm commitment from CSX to renegotiate the terms of liability, and that’s a major breakthrough,” Mica said.
He said federal officials think Central Florida commuter rail is so important that Washington is willing to commit more money for the project. He said that would free up some of the state money committed to SunRail for other state projects.
Dockery said she sees little news value over the hoopla in Orlando on Monday.
“The June 30 deadline to end the negotiations was arbitrary,” she said. “It wasn’t connected to anything. So this is not a surprise.”
As for a shift by CSX on the indemnity issue, “Let’s see it,” she said.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says he has plans to meet with Dockery later this week .
But Dockery said that was news to her.
“We haven’t set a date,” she said. “I haven’t heard from him.”